Back Together Again
by TowMondler
Summary: Monica and Chandler have been missing for five years, has the gang finally found them?
1. Some 'splaining to do

Hello all! I hope that everyone is dandy on this fine day! (I just had a really good day so nothing could phase me right now! And now I'm spreading that happiness amongst you!) This fic takes place a few years in the future, but no one has seen Monica and Chandler since the end of season five. Therefore they knew that they were dating. 

Disclaimer: They don't belong to me. 

"I have to go to Seattle on business. Would you guys like to come?" Rachel asked her friends one afternoon when she came home from work. They were sitting in Central Perk.

"Sure," Joey said. "I have nothing else to do."

"Okay, great! Who else?" 

"I'll come," Phoebe said.

"Ross?"

"I'm there," he promised. 

"Great," Rachel said. "That's all four of us." Four. It had been four for about five years now. No one knew where their other two friends had gone. Monica and Chandler had simply never come home from the store one night. They had found an obscure note from the two laying on Rachel's bed. 

_Dear Ross, Rachel, Joey and Phoebe,_

Please know that we love you guys. We wouldn't do this unless we had 

to. Please know that. We have to leave. Love always, Monica and Chandler.

Weeks of investigations, and worrying turned up nothing. So they had called the search off, and they had had a memorial for the two. 

"Wherever they are," Joey had said. "I hope that they're together." Little did they know that this little trip of theirs would turn up something that had been missing from their lives for six years. Or more specific, some people. 

__

~Seattle~

"Monica? Honey? Have you seen my socks?" Chandler yelled up the stairs of their house. 

"Which ones?" Monica yelled back down. She was in the middle of something and didn't really feel like looking for Chandler's socks. 

"The gray ones," he called. 

"Can't you wear your black ones?" She called. 

"Fine," he huffed and grabbed the black ones. They were late for church. (AN: I know that Monica is supposed to be Jewish, all I can say is that it'll be explained later.) They had been fine, church-going people for five years. When they left, they had changed everything about themselves. They only had kept their first names. Chandler was now working in public relations at a large firm in Seattle, and was making twice as much money as he had been, and doing even less work. Monica went back to school and had got a degree and now worked as a social worker. The Walkers, they were now called. Monica and Chandler Walker. 

"Need help honey?" Chandler called up the steps. 

"Yes please," Monica called back down. "Jamie will not put his shoes on." Chandler heard his four-year-old's small voice call.

"But Mommy they hurt my feet!" Chandler chuckled a bit and hurried up the steps before Monica had a breakdown. He found his son on the floor trying to put on his tennis shoes. 

"You can't wear those!" Monica explained to him. 

"But Mommy!" Jamie whined. Juliana, his twin sister, came into the room.

"I'm ready Daddy," she happily told Chandler. 

"Thanks sweetheart," he said to her. She beamed. "I'll take over here Mon, go get Tessa ready."

"She's ready already," Juliana said pointing to her one-year-old sister Tess who appeared in the hallway. Monica picked her up and carried her downstairs followed in tow by Juliana. Chandler finally came down holding Jamie in his arms, and Monica saw with pleasure, that Jamie was wearing his shoes. Chandler locked the door behind them and they got into their mini-van and drove to church. Jamie, as per usual, was wiggling in and out of his seat. Monica held Tess in her lap and Juliana sat next to her making faces at her brother. All in all, they were behaving in the typical fashion. As they got on their coats to leave, Monica heard someone calling her name.

"Monica! Monica Walker!" She turned around. It had taken her a long time to get used to that name. It was another mother from Juliana and Jamie's preschool class. 

"Oh, hey Sheryl, what's the matter?"

"Can you come in for the Christmas party?"

"Sure," Monica said. 

"Thanks so much," Sheryl said. "Oh can you make something for the kids to eat? Like brownies?" 

"Oh, I don't know if they'll want to eat my cooking," Monica said. Her and Chandler shared an amused look. "But I'll try." 

"Mommy makes really good brownies," Juliana said.

"At least someone likes them," Monica told Sheryl, who laughed. They walked out and Chandler asked if they wanted to go to the park. 

"Let's go get them changed first. Jamie will throw an absolute fit if he has to wear those shoes any longer," Monica said. They drove home and changed the kids into their play clothes and then drove to the park. 

"Look Pheebs!" Joey was staring out the window of their hotel room onto the park below. "There's an ice cream man!" 

"Do you want some Joe?" Phoebe asked.

"Please?" Joey asked. Phoebe nodded.

"I could go for a nice Screwball myself," Phoebe agreed grabbing her purse. (AN: My absolute favorite thing to get from the ice cream man. When he comes around, it's me and my neighbor, whose my age, that run out to meet him. Not the little kids) They walked down into the park and bought their ice cream and were sitting on the bench eating it when Phoebe's eye caught a little girl who looked familiar. 

"Jamie!" The little girl admonished. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry Juliana, queen of the world," the little boy with her said in a sarcastic voice. 

"Mommy is going to yell at you!"

"She's not! She's too busy trying to get Tess to put on her coat!" 

"Then Daddy will!" 

"Will not!" 

"Will too!" Phoebe watched their fight intensify, until a man, who looked hauntingly familiar walked up and took their hands and pulled them towards a woman who was sitting on another bench holding a baby in her arms. It took Phoebe a minute to realize how she knew them.

"Joe! That's Monica and Chandler!" Joey's attention was immediately turned to the woman and man, who although they had changed slightly, were without a doubt, their old friends. Monica, he noted, had gotten her hair highlighted and was layered and fell to her shoulders. She was wearing sunglasses, as was Chandler. 

"Sweetie, we'd better go home," he said to Monica. "Jamie and Jules are acting up." Monica nodded and picked Tessa up and strapped her into her stroller and they began to walk towards their car. Joey and Phoebe shared an incredulous look and then got up and began to follow them. They didn't want to lose them again. They got into their rental car and followed the brand-new mini-van down the streets and into a neighborhood called Whispering Pines, and down the street to a huge house towards the end of the street. Chandler parked in the driveway and Phoebe and Joey drove past they turned into a driveway at the end and sat there until Monica and Chandler had disappeared into the house. They drove past again and Phoebe saw on the mailbox that it said Walker. 

'Walker?" She said out loud. "Is that their house or are they just visiting someone?" 

"Well, either way we can find out where they are," Joey said. "Lets go find Ross and Rachel and tell them." Phoebe nodded and they drove back to the hotel. They burst into their room and found Ross and Rachel arguing what to do next. 

"Guess who we saw!" Joey exclaimed. Thinking that they saw a movie star or something like that, Ross and Rachel began to name people.

"The guy from 'JAG'?" Rachel guessed.

"No!" Phoebe said fed up. "Monica and Chandler!" Their mouths dropped open.

"They're alive?" Ross asked.

"They're here?" Rachel cried at the same time. "Where did you see them? Did you talk to them?"

"Hold on!" Joey said holding up his hands.

"Are you sure that it was them?" Ross asked. He had gotten his hopes up too many times trying to find them, and he didn't want to be hurt again. 

"Positive that it was them," Phoebe said. "We saw them in the park with their three kids."

"They have three kids?" 

"Yep, two girls and a boy," Joey said. "But we didn't talk to them."

"Why not?" Ross demanded to know.

"We followed them home instead," Phoebe continued. "And their mailbox said Walker. Not Geller, not Bing, but Walker." 

"Maybe it wasn't their house?" Rachel asked.

"Or maybe they changed their names," Ross said. 

"Why would they do that?" Joey asked.

"Maybe they didn't want to be found," Ross said. 

"Then should we not try to talk to them?" Rachel asked.

"No, we have to," Phoebe said. "I want to know where they've been for the past five years." They all agreed to go to that house that night to get some answers on where their friends had disappeared to so long ago. 

"Did you get the movies?" Monica asked Chandler coming into the kitchen. He held up a bag with videos in it. 

"Did you make popcorn?" He asked. She held up three separate bowls. One for her and Chandler, and then Jamie and Juliana each got their own, because they would fight when forced to share. 

"And Tessa is fast asleep," Monica said. 

"Well then the Walker family video fest may begin," Chandler said hugging his wife close to him and kissing her deeply on the mouth. 

"Walker," she whispered. "It took me so long to get used to that. Now I barely remember my old life." She paused. "I miss them."

"I know baby," Chandler said holding her and feeling her tears on his cheeks. "I miss them too." Jamie and Juliana had come into the room and cleared their throats. Monica laughed and pulled away giving Chandler one last kiss before picking the bowls of popcorn up and carrying them into the family room. Chandler followed with the tapes and the drinks. They settled onto the couch and Monica leaned up against Chandler and rested in his arms as the movie started. Julie and Jamie were on the floor on beanbag chairs that Monica had thrown a fit when Chandler had bought them for them. 

"They are not staying in my house!" She cried. 

"But Mon!" Chandler had said. "Every kid needs a beanbag chair! All other chairs envy that chair!" They had finally come to some sort of agreement. The chairs only made appearances in the family room on family film nights. The rest of the time they were in the playroom. They were halfway into the movie when the doorbell rang. Monica and Chandler looked at each other and Chandler rose to answer it. He walked into the hallway and flipped on the outside light. He peered out the window and was shocked to find his old friends standing there looking, well, nervous. He pulled open the door and stared at them.

"It is you!" Rachel said. 

"Rachel?" Chandler asked. He was enveloped in a hug. 

"We thought that you were dead," Phoebe said hugging him. 

"Come in," Chandler said pulling them inside the large house. 

"Who is it?" Monica's voice called.

"Is that Monica?" Ross asked. He couldn't wait to see his baby sister. Chandler nodded his head spinning. Monica appeared in the hallway, and her reaction was the same as her husband's. Her mouth dropped open.

"What are you doing here?" She asked in shock.

"We missed you too Mon," Joey said sarcastically. He ran to her and picked her up and spun her around. Rachel squealed and ran to hug her best friend. Ross did the same as Joey had done. 

"Mommy! Tell Jamie that he has his own popcorn and not to steal mine!" Juliana cried from the family room.

"I was not!"

"You were too liar, liar pants on fire!" Monica and Chandler snapped out of their shock and Monica made her way to the family room. 

"Mommy!" Juliana cried. "He's hitting me!" She threw herself into her mother's arms. Monica held her tightly to her trying to piece everything together in her head. 

"Jamie Walker, what did I tell you about hitting your sister?" 

"That it was bad?" Jamie asked. The gang had followed Monica and Chandler into the living room and Jamie and Juliana suddenly noticed that there were four people that they didn't know in their house. Jamie pulled on Chandler's sleeve and Chandler picked him up and the four Walkers stared at the four old friends of Monica Geller and Chandler Bing. Two people that in every sense of the word did not exist anymore. 

"Are these your kids?" Rachel asked. She looked at the two little children in their pajamas. Both looked like Monica, but had traces of Chandler in their faces. Monica nodded. 

"This is Jamie and Juliana, they're four, and then we have Tessa, who is fourteen months." 

"Hi, Jamie," Joey said. He was closest to Chandler. "I'm Joey. Your dad and I used to live together."

"Really?" Juliana moved her head from its spot buried in Monica's shoulders to look up at Joey. 

"And I used to live with your mommy," Rachel said.

"I did once too!" Phoebe added. 

"I'm your mommy's brother," Ross said to his niece and nephew.

"Nuh-huh," Jamie said vigorously shaking his head. "Mommy doesn't have any brothers or sisters. We'd know if she did." 

"It's true," Monica told her son. "He's my brother."

"Lucy, I think that we've got a lot of 'splaining to do," Chandler said in a Cuban accent. Monica nodded. 

"Why don't we go put Jules and James to bed and you can make yourself comfortable and then we will explain?" She offered moving towards the door. Their friends nodded.

"That's fine," Phoebe said sitting on the couch. "We'll be here when you come back." Chandler followed her up the stairs. Monica tucked Juliana in bed and then went across the hall to Jamie's room and Chandler went to Julie's room. 

"So I guess we have to go back down there and face them?" Monica said as they met back up in the hall. Chandler nodded and pulled her into a hug. 

"It'll be okay," he told her. Downstairs, their friends were looking all around the living room at pictures of Monica and Chandler and the kids and leafing through the photo albums. Monica and Chandler appeared in the doorway once more and they moved together to the couch and sat upon it holding the other's hand. 

"Your house is gorgeous," Rachel told Monica. 

"Thanks," Monica said. 

"Why don't you guys sit down?" Chandler asked pointing to the couches. They took their cue and sat down and looked expectantly at their friends. 

"I guess you're wondering where we've been for the last five years," Monica said. 

"Well, yeah," Ross said. "You just didn't come home one day! Do you have any idea how worried we were?" 

"I can imagine," Monica said grasping to Chandler's hand tightly. 

"Well, why didn't you come home? You left a note telling us that you had to leave, but didn't want to. We had no idea what happened to you! The police thought that you had been kidnapped, because of the hasty note and the ransacked apartment. They gave up fairly early, they told us that you were dead. But we didn't believe them, so we continued to search. We searched everywhere for you," Rachel said. "We finally gave up." 

"We're sorry," Monica said. She burst out in tears. "We didn't want to hurt you. We had no choice!" She wailed. 

"Shush, honey, it wasn't your fault," Chandler said rubbing his wife's back. "It's okay." She calmed down and then looked at her friends that she had been certain she might never see again. 

"This is what happened..." she began taking them back to that afternoon five years before. 

To be continued......

~*Don't you just love when I leave you in suspense? I wasn't going to, but its getting late, and I have school again tomorrow....blah! I was really liking this sleeping in and going to bed late. But no, tomorrow back to waking up insanely early, getting on my stupid uniform and heading off to stupid school. Blah! Anyway, please tell me what you thought. I decided if I don't get like...more then six reviews, no second chapter! Just kidding, but seriously please review!*~


	2. What happened

Thanks so much for reviewing! I hope that you keep doing it! It totally brightens my day! I'm just going to pick up where the last one left off.....

Disclaimer: Got in the way of my lead in beginning up there, anyway, not mine. 

__

5 years ago, New York City

"Hey honey," Monica said coming into the coffee shop where Chandler was sitting all by himself. 

"Hi sweetie," he said giving her a kiss as she sat on the orange couch. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?" 

"Of course, I was thinking that I would make something special," she told him. 

"That's intriguing, what is it?" 

"Its a secret," she told him with a mysterious grin. She sat deep in thought for a minute before crying out, "Oh!"

"What's the matter?" He asked with concern. 

"I forgot to get mushrooms," she said. "I should run to the grocery store."

"I'll come with you," he said. "I have to pick up the essentials for the apartment."

"What a six pack and ketchup?" She replied sarcastically.

"And Kraft's Mac and Cheese, Joey ate the last of ours the other night," Chandler said shrugging off her sarcasm and helping her with her coat and leading her to the door. They hailed a cab and went to Monica's favorite store to buy her food. The only store she claimed, that had quality freshness. They were getting what they needed, and headed towards the counter with their purchases. They were standing in line waiting behind an older man. Everything seemed to happen so quickly. A man came in with a gun and ordered that the cashier give him the money in the register. The man, with shaking hands, handed the man the money. Chandler had pushed Monica behind him and was holding her back, protecting her as he tried to back away from the man with the gun.

"What are you doing?" The man barked at Monica and Chandler and the man in front of them who had the same idea. "Did I tell you that you could move?" He looked the three over. "Why, what a pretty girl." He said coming close to Monica. Chandler stepped in front of him as he reached out to touch her hair. 

"Don't touch her," he said. 

"Oh, being the hero are we? Fine, she looks like a slut anyhow," he spit out. Chandler glared angrily at him and then gave Monica's hand, which he had been holding in his own, a tight squeeze. 

"It's okay," he whispered to her. 

"Give me your wallet," he ordered of Chandler. Chandler pulled it out of his pocket. His driver's license wasn't in there, but his credit cards and money were. Monica handed hers over, being the same as Chandler. Their names were all everything, but there was no address on any of their things. The man with the gun turned to the older gentleman in front of Monica and Chandler. 

"What are you looking at old man?" The old man stuttered with his answer, and Monica and Chandler saw firsthand this man's cruelty. "Spit it out!" He hit the man in the head, knocking him out. The cashier looked frightened from the man on the floor to the man with the gun. "I said hurry up!" The robber yelled at the poor kid. They all heard the approaching sirens and the robber looked from the window the kid. 

"You called the police?" He asked. "Now why would you go and do something stupid like that? Now I'll be forced to do this," he held the gun to the boy's head and as Chandler shielded Monica, who buried her face in his jacket, they heard a gunshot and a body crumple to the ground. He turned on his heel to face Monica and Chandler once more. He seemed to dismiss them and turned to run out the door. Before he was out though, something happened. The mask that had been covering his face got caught on the hinges and it came off. Monica and Chandler both saw his face, and now could ID him. Unfortunately, he also saw their faces taking in his, and he had their wallets and their names. He knew that they were eye witnesses, the police were rapidly approaching, so he left them knowing that he had connections and could get rid of them with a snap of the finger. The moment he was gone, Monica collapsed into Chandler's arms and fainted, and at the sight of the dead man behind the counter, Chandler fell to the ground as well. When they awoke, they were in the police station. (AN: I don't know exactly how this all works, so bear with me) 

"We didn't do it," Chandler said automatically. 

"We know, the older man told us. Problem is he never saw the guy's face. You two didn't happen to did you?" Monica looked at Chandler and slowly nodded.

"We saw his face," she said quietly. 

"Can you describe it?" The officer asked. 

"I think that it will haunt me for the rest of my life," she said. A few hours later, the cop reappeared in the room with Monica and Chandler. 

"Good news or bad news?" The officer, whose name was Morrison, asked. 

"Good," Chandler said. 

"Okay, we got an ID on the guy and we're detaining him," Morrison said. 

"That's good," Monica said. "So its over?"

"Not quite, and that would be the bad news," he said. "Apparently this guy is high up on the criminal food chain and he has a lot of connections. He had your names. There are people looking for you. You aren't safe anymore."

"What does that mean?" Chandler demanded. 

"I suspect you've heard of the Witness Protection Program?" They both nodded understanding what he was saying. 

"What does this mean though?" Monica asked. "What about our friends and family?"

"Unless you want them to get into this mess with you, you can't see them again," Morrison said looking at the couple sadly. This morning they were getting coffee, now they were running for their lives. Monica burst out crying and Chandler hugged her to him. 

"Where are we going?" Chandler asked. 

"Well, we need to change everything about your lives," Morrison said. "You can keep your first names, but it'd be better if you got married, and we have a justice of peace here to perform the ceremony." They nodded in agreement with this and Morrison continued. "We'll need you to move, change occupations, change names, change habits, basically change lives." An hour later, they were married and Monica Geller and Chandler Bing no longer existed. They were gone. Officers escorted them back to the apartment and they ripped apart the place trying to get everything that they needed in the short time that no one was there. Monica grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled a short note to Rachel that they weren't coming back. After that, they were whisked onto a plane that took them away with their heads reeling and their hearts saddened by having to leave everything they knew behind. 

__

Present time~ Seattle

"You're in the witness protection program?" Joey asked incredulously after hearing the story. Monica and Chandler nodded slowly.

"We didn't want to leave you," Monica said again. "It broke our hearts. We didn't mean to put you through the hurt that we caused."

"Oh Monica!" Rachel said leaning forward to hug her friend. "What you must have gone through is no match for what we felt." 

"I have a question," Chandler said suddenly to his friends. "What happened after we left that day? I mean what happened when you came home?"

"I found the note and ran to find the rest of the gang," Rachel explained. "The apartment was a mess and we called the police. They helped search for a little while and then they said that it was hopeless. It seemed to us that they gave up really quickly. Which of course, they had. They knew that you weren't coming back and that we couldn't find you. So we hired private detectives who scoured the country for you. When the government makes people disappear, they do an awful good job." 

"I have a question now for you two," Ross said speaking up finally after hearing the story. "We found you though, so couldn't this guy and his minions find you too?"

"Well," Chandler said looking again at his wife. "When we first came out here, there were always police outside the house and with us everywhere we went. When the twins were born, they continued to do that. When Jules and James were about two, the man who was put in prison, got out on parole, and he was killed in a car accident. They told us that it was safe to do regular things like regular people, but we couldn't go back to our old lives. The thing was, while the man could identify us by sight, his 'people' couldn't. They had never seen us. I mean everyone knows I don't take a good picture, I don't look the same, and to a certain degree neither does Monica. With the original threat of being spotted gone, we could go out to public places without police a table over, or in the car outside. Eventually we settled into a normal life. But we still missed you guys, and we've been waiting until we were able to contact you."

"So are you going to go back to your old lives now?" Rachel asked. Monica looked at Chandler. They had to answer their friends, they were waiting for an answer. So Chandler looked them in the eye and opened his mouth to talk. 

~*Sorry so short, but I wanted to get it up as fast as I could so that you would know why they left. I'm sorry if I got everything wrong...but tell me what you thought anyway. Thanks!*~


	3. Hurt feelings and new lives

Hi! Thanks for the reviews on the last one. I'm trying to get these done as fast as I can, because I won't have any time anymore. Musical season has officially commenced. Which means I'll be at my school more then I'm at home. Now, why again did I want a lead? Ahhhhh! Anyway, enough of my woes, here's the next part. 

Disclaimer: The characters from the television show Friends do not belong to me. 

Chandler looked at his wife. 

"So are you coming back to your old lives?" Ross asked. "Change your names back and get your lives back in order?"

"No," Chandler said at first very softly and quietly. 

"What?" Rachel said.

"No," Chandler repeated a little louder. "We aren't going to change our names back to Bing and we aren't moving back to New York." While his friends looked at him and Monica with shock and hurt on their faces, he tried to explain.

"Here's the thing," he started. "While we missed you and we have every intention of trying to piece together our friendship with you guys, the truth is that we have a life out here now. Our kids go to school here, and they have friends here. We have jobs here that we actually enjoy. We own this house, and we have made friends out here. We had to pack up and leave our lives five years ago, and we don't want to do that again. Besides, Walker is a much better last name." He tried to get them to smile at his joke. 

"We just thought that if we found you," Joey said. "We'd get you back."

"You will get us back," Monica said. "You have! But it's just not going to be the same as it used to be. It can't possibly be the same. Even if we did move back, we couldn't live in the city, we'd buy a house. It would be hard relocating again. When we moved out here first, the government gave us the money for starting over again. I went back to school and Chandler got a new job. We need for you to understand!" The four looked at each other. Ross knew that his sister and his brother-in-law had a point. They had just figured that they would drop everything and come back and it would be the same. Monica was right. It had changed. Monica and Chandler had changed. 

"I don't want to lose you again," Rachel said softly.

"You can come visit all the time!" Monica said. "And we'll visit! And although Chandler and I were forced into leaving, we can't come back." Phoebe nodded and began to stand up.

"Where are you going?" Chandler asked.

"Back to the hotel," Phoebe said. "We have to have time to digest all this. I mean, we find you, but you aren't coming back to your lives. I know that you don't mean it that way, but its like you're choosing this life over your old one. And we were in your old lives." Monica nodded, and then turned away from their friends and ran away. Chandler watched her run out and then turned to his friends suddenly angry with them.

"We get that this is hard for you!" He said. "We get that it hurts you that we would rather live out here. But its not that we would rather live out here, it's just that it makes so much more sense to live out here. Ross? If Ben was going to school and had friends somewhere, would you yank him out of everything that he had ever known because you wanted to move across the country?" Ross shook his head. "I didn't think so! You're all being selfish, and if we moved back that would be what Monica and I were being. We have kids to think about. We need jobs to make money to support them, and moving back to New York, while it's a very novel idea, is impossible. We understand that you've been searching for us for five years, and while we understand that that was hard for you, you have to realize that you weren't the only ones who lost their friends. We did too! And we didn't even anything to fall back on but each other. So excuse me, while I go comfort my wife for feeling guilty about things that she had no control over!" He stormed out of the room leaving the others to hang their heads and sit quietly in contemplation. 

"Maybe we should leave," Joey said. They all nodded. "Give them some time to cool off." No one admitted that Chandler had been right. It was ridiculous for them to think that they would just drop their lives here and move back. But they hadn't thought of it like that. They just figured that Chandler and Monica would want to come back to their old lives. They had worried for so long and each had imagined so many times what it would be like to have them back, that they never figured in the possibility that they might not want to come back. The realization of that hit hard and they were hurt, and they did have a right to be. It was a difficult situation that had been inflicted on them and not one of them deserved it, but now they had to figure out a way to deal with it. 

The doorbell rang the next morning and Jamie hopped out of his seat at breakfast and made a beeline towards it to be the first to open it. Juliana was close behind reached him just as he was pulling it open.

"Oh, its just you," Jamie said looking at the four people that he had met last night. "I was hoping that it was Bobby."

"Hi," Juliana said. "Are you here to see Mommy and Daddy?" 

"Yes," Phoebe said. "Can we come in?"

"I guess," Jamie said opening the door wider to let them in. They followed the two kids to the kitchen. Monica was feeding Tessa who didn't seem to want to eat. 

"This must be Tessa," Ross said looking at the little girl in the highchair. Both Chandler, who had been reading the paper, and Monica looked up at them with surprise. They had honestly thought that they wouldn't be back. 

"I was mean," Chandler said shrugging. "But all these emotions built up and I needed to get them out. So I snapped." 

"I understand," Monica said hugging him. Now their friends were back and standing in their kitchen. 

"Mommy?" Juliana's voice broke the awkward silence. 

"Yes baby?" Monica turned to her older daughter. 

"Do we have school today?"

"Yes, and oh, we're late," she said. "Jamie grab your coat! Jules, get your shoes on, Chandler, honey, can you get Tessa cleaned up while I grab her coat?" Chandler nodded and gently lifted the baby out of the highchair and wiped her face and hands as Monica came running back into the room with coats for her and Juliana. 

"Listen," Monica said. "I have to run. Will you stay so that we can talk when I get back?" They nodded and she grabbed Tessa off of Chandler and rushed towards the car. 

"Honey?" Chandler called after her.

"Huh?" She whirled around. "You forgot keys." 

"Keys right," she ran back in and grabbed them out of his hands. 

"Can I come?" Rachel asked. The question stopped Monica in her mad rush. 

"Sure," she said eyeing Rachel. 

"I'll stay here," Phoebe said sitting down. "I haven't had breakfast yet." Monica nodded. 

"Come on then," she told Rachel. "Grab your book bags!" The five of them headed out to Monica's van and piled in. Monica strapped Tess in and then got in the driver's seat and pulled out of the driveway. 

" Mommy's always running late on her mornings," Jamie confided in Rachel. "Daddy's mornings always run much smoother." Rachel looked at her obsessive friend in shock. Monica had always been the organized one.

"Things change," Monica said shrugging. "I never remember that I don't have the cushion like I had at the restaurant where I could go in late." 

"Where do you work now?" Rachel asked.

"Child services," Monica said. "I love it, but I miss being a chef." 

"Mommy? When were you a chef?" Juliana asked from the back. 

"It seems like forever ago," Monica answered. "When Daddy and I lived in New York, darling." 

"Before you had us?" Jamie asked unable to comprehend a world where he didn't exist. 

"Yes, before we had you guys," Monica told her son.

"What a sad person you must have been," he said honestly. Monica looked at Rachel and for the first time in two days, she burst out laughing. Rachel had missed her friend's laugh and laughed along side with her. They pulled up to Juliana and Jamie's preschool and Monica hopped out.

"Can you stay here with Tess?" She asked Rachel who nodded. Then she took both her kids' hands and led them inside the building. When she emerged, she was talking to another mother. 

"Are we still on for dinner with you and Chandler?" The woman asked.

"Oh, yeah," Monica said. "We'll see you and Derek then, bye Liz!" Monica ran back to her car and got in next to Rachel. 

"I guess we should go home and talk about what's going to happen now," Monica said backing up and driving down the street. 

"Mon, I just...we just....well, we missed you guys so much...and I know that you missed us too....when you said that you weren't coming back to New York, well, it felt like you were saying that you weren't coming back to us. That you had moved on from us and that we didn't matter."Monica stopped at a stop sign and turned to her friend. 

"Of course you matter," she told Rachel. "You always mattered to us. You were always in our thoughts. When the twins and Tessa were born, we thought of you. Ask me their middle names." 

"What are their middle names?" Rachel asked as Monica began driving once more. 

"Juliana Rachel, Jamie Ross, and Tessa Lillian, after Pheeb's mom," Monica said looking at the road. "And we always figured our next kid would have Joey's name. We never forgot about you and us choosing to stay in Seattle really, well, it has nothing to do with you. We want to be your friends again, and we want you in our lives. But we can't move back. We can't go back." 

"I understand," Rachel said finally after a moment of silence had fallen over the car. And she did. "Oh Monica." They pulled into the driveway and the two fell into a hug. They had gotten their best friends back. They were both crying and Tess looked back and forth from her mother to the woman in the front seat with interest until she had had enough of being in the car and let out a wail. Monica pulled away and laughed as she wiped her face clear of the tears and got out and got her daughter out. She carried her inside and found the Chandler had had the same conversation with the rest of them, because they were all crying and hugging. Monica had to chuckle at it and hugged them all tightly to her. 

"I missed you," she whispered to her brother. 

"I missed you and my nieces and nephew that I didn't know I had," he said. 

"We have a lot that we have to fix," she said. "And a lot of catching up to do."

"We will," Chandler said taking her hand. "Don't worry. We will." 

That night, as the kids watched a movie in the playroom, the six friends sat in the family room and talked about old times and what happened in the five years since they had been apart. Monica watched her friends and smiled. She had really missed them. Joey's denseness, Phoebe's oddities, Ross's boring stories, which were still boring, and Rachel's habit for gossiping. 

"Oh Mon! Remember..." and she would launch into a story about one of their old friends. Monica would nod and smile along with the story just happy that they were all back together again. The phone rang and Monica answered it.

"Hello?"

"Mon?" 

"Hi Paul! How are you?" 

"I'm fine," he told her. It was the cop that had taken care of them, Morrison. He had became one their close friends because they trusted him and he knew all about them. 

"I'm in town," he told her. 

"We would love for you to come over then!" Monica told him. She walked into the living room where it was quiet. "Our old friends found us."

"Really? How? Monica, are you and Chandler and the kids okay? You know that there are people who would still like to hurt you."

"Calm down," she told him. "They recognized us in the park. They were here on a trip."

"I think that I should definitely come over then," he said. Monica nodded, knowing that Paul had become like a big brother to her, and a best friend to Chandler, and he wasn't going to calm down until he came over and checked everything out. Monica hung up and walked back into the living room and told Chandler. 

"Paul is coming over," she said. 

"Oh? Good," he said. An hour later, the doorbell rang and Monica answered it. He came in and hugged her. 

"Hey stranger," she said hugging him back .

"Uncle Paul!" Jamie and Juliana came running into the front hall and jumped on him. 

"Hi guys," he said. Chandler came into the hall and shook his hand. The four friends stayed in the kitchen and watched. Monica and Chandler pulled the twins away and then looked from their friends to Paul.

"Oh, Paul," Monica said. "These are the friends that would told you about. Rachel, Ross, Joey, and Phoebe." 

"More like the friends that they wouldn't stop talking about," Paul said reaching out his hand to shake. 

"Let's go back to the family room," Chandler suggested and picked up Juliana and Jamie under his arms causing both to giggle and carried them into the room with the adults and set them down. He sat on the couch and Monica sat down next to him and leaned back against them as the twins came over and made themselves comfortable on their parent's laps. Paul took a seat next to them and the other four took their old seats and they looked expectantly around the room at each other. 

"You won't tell anyone that you saw them right?" Paul finally asked. "I'm sorry, it's my job to ask you that." 

"We won't tell," Ross promised. Paul nodded. 

"Not until we give the go ahead," Paul said. "After five years, they're still going to want to find those two." Monica and Chandler looked at each other. "On to lighter subjects though..." and they were off in a different direction. Monica couldn't help but notice the way that Rachel and Paul kept looking at each other. She mentioned it to Chandler after they had all gone home and they were in bed. 

"Don't play matchmaker," he pleaded.

"Why not?" She demanded to know.

"You know what happens when you try to fix people up," he told her. "It always end in disasters. The Murphy's blamed their divorce on you."

"Well, that just wasn't fair," she said indignantly putting her hands on her hips. "How was I supposed to know that she wouldn't tell him about her prosthetic leg until they were married. He wondered why she always wore leg warmers to bed. And by the way, it was really superficial for him to dump her because of that!" Monica and Chandler looked at each other and began laughing. It felt good to laugh. 

"So Paul and Rachel?" Chandler said as he leaned over to turn off the light. 

"We'll call you," Monica assured Rachel as she gave her a hug goodbye. 

"Promise?"

"Swear," Monica said. They hugged once more. 

"This Paul is really cute, is he married?" Rachel asked Monica. Monica looked over at her husband who was containing a laugh.

"Actually he's single," Monica told her. "Give him a call." 

"Maybe I will," Rachel said smiling to herself. Monica gave a chuckle and turned and hugged Phoebe. 

"Bye Uncle Ross," Jamie said giving him a hug. 

"Bye Aunt Rachel," Juliana said at the same time. Tessa was just being passed around. 

"Bye," her little voice said. 

"Did she just say her first word?" Monica asked Chandler. He nodded looking in awe at his daughter. Monica took her off of Joey and kissed her. 

"Baby! You said your first word," she said hugging her daughter. 

"Bye," Tess said again seeing the reaction of the first time she said it. 

"Well, we were here for at least one important moment," Rachel commented. They hugged once more before they piled into their rental car and drove off waving to the family that was standing there waving. They had plans to come back in a few months, Paul had said that it was safer for Monica and Chandler to stay in Seattle rather then go to New York.

"Someday," he said. "Everything will be back to normal." But the friends knew that things would never be back to the way that they once were. They were just happy to have found each other again. 

~*I hoped that you liked it. Please review and tell me what you thought. I rushed the ending because like I said musical is starting and I have no time and wanted to get it done. Anyway, review please!*~


	4. What happened, happened

Well, I have been working on this one little by little, but we don't have practice today so I had time to finish this. Please review and tell me what you thought. This is going to be the last part of this series. 

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters on the television show Friends. 

Monica sighed coming down the stairs. Tessa was running down the hall to get away from Jamie who was chasing her with goo all over his hands. The goo, like the beanbag chairs, had been Chandler's idea. This time Joey had been with him and seeing as he wanted to play with it too, Monica had lost the argument big time. And Monica hated to lose. Tess threw herself into her mother's arms. 

"Make him stop!" She wailed. She was now three, and the twins were six. Chandler came into the hallway holding baby Tyler, who was now six months. 

"Sorry Mon," he apologized. Monica nodded annoyed and turned to Jamie.

"Jamie, go wash that stuff off your hands and don't, I repeat do not, chase either one of your sisters around the house with that stuff." Jamie nodded and turned and walked out of the hallway and Monica stroked Tess's hair and walked to the kitchen. She gave Chandler and Tyler each a kiss as she walked past and headed towards the counter where Juliana was waiting to make cookies with her for the Christmas season. Monica smiled and set Tess down on a stool next to Juliana. 

"Mon? I'm going to take the boys out Christmas shopping," he told her. 

"Bye Daddy," Juliana said sweetly. She was the easiest of Monica's four children. 

"Bye baby," he came in and gave her a kiss and then Tess a kiss and finally took Monica in his arms and gave her a kiss. 

"Bye Jamie," Monica yelled.

"Bye Mommy," he yelled back. 

"Bye Jamie, bye Ty," Tess said. "Mommy, Ty didn't say goodbye back."

"That's because he can't talk yet honey," Monica said amused. 

"Oh, that's right," Tess nodded and went back to mixing her bowl of dough. The front door opened a few minutes later and Rachel came in. Her and Paul had married and now lived a few houses down. They didn't have any children yet, but Rachel had told her that they were trying. The rest of the gang had remained in New York, but flew out occasionally to see them. Joey had actually proposed to a woman named Claire, and they were getting married in a month. And the biggest surprise of all was that Ross had gotten together with Phoebe. Although, Monica knew that Phoebe always felt like she wasn't the right person to be dating him.

"After all," she had said. "He stills holds Rachel on a pedal stool that she will never be knocked off of." Monica had agreed. But they were happy together and that was what counted. Rachel claimed that she didn't mind, but the first time that they had visited, Rachel had acted very strangely and jealous. Monica knew it hurt for her to see them together, but she also knew how hard it had been for Ross to see Rachel with anyone other then himself. So she used the "I wasn't around for five years, you figure it out for yourselves," and would leave the room. 

"Aunt Rachel?" Tess asked looking at her.

"Yes?" 

"Why are you here?" Monica shot her daughter a look to tell her to stop it.   
"Oh, did I come at baking time?" Rachel asked. Tess and Juliana nodded, being fiercely protective of their mother and the time that she set aside just for them. 

"What did you want Rach?" Monica asked reaching for the milk.

"Oh, I just needed to talk," she explained noticing the looks that she was getting from the two girls. "I'll come back later."

"Yes," Tess agreed. "I think that you should." Monica almost laughed but regained her composure.

"Tessa, be nice to Rachel," Monica told her. 

"Sorry," Tess didn't even look up. Rachel said that she would be back later and hurried out of the house. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Days around there usually were. A few years before, Paul had told Monica and Chandler that they were fine now. They had been holding back for a while because the man that had robbed the store had been associated with some nasty people. His cousin had been deep into the whole crime scene and promised his mother that he would look after his cousin. (AN: Someone pointed out, and I completely agreed that someone who robs stores isn't going to be high up on the criminal scale. So I just thought that I would clear that up) His cousin wasn't very bright and after getting out of jail had gotten himself killed. The reason that Monica and Chandler were still in trouble was that the cousin could have possibly wanted someone to blame for his cousin's death. Monica and Chandler were the reason he was identified and put in jail so they were going to be who the man blamed. Monica had argued that one thing had nothing to do with the other and Paul shrugged.

"Everybody needs someone to blame," he had said. "You two were easy to blame." Monica had gone to argue, but Chandler had clamped his hand over mouth and nodded.

"We understand," he said. 

"I don't!" Monica had said and Chandler had shot her a look to stop and she did and walked away repeating, "I don't see how though." After they were done baking, Monica had led Juliana and Tess upstairs and gave them a bath. All three were covered in flour. After they were clean, she hopped in the shower, and they waited for Chandler, Tyler, and Jamie to come home. The front door opened and the boys came in finding all three girls asleep on the couch. 

"Daddy, they fell asleep!" Jamie said placing his hands on his hips. "Let's wake them up."

"Jamie, let them sleep," Chandler told him. Tyler began to crying and Chandler sighed. Monica stirred and woke up.

"Hey," she said. She took Tyler off of Chandler and rocked him back and forth.

"It's okay honey," she said whispering to him and giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Mommy's here." Chandler followed her out of the family room and into the quiet living room where Monica made herself comfortable on the sofa. 

"How was baking?" He asked.

"It was fun," she said. "We put the cookies in the tins and we have to send them to Joey, Ross, and Phoebe. How was shopping? Did Jamie and Ty behave?"

"Like angels," he told her kissing her on the temple. He sat and they fell back asleep on the sofa together. 

"Merry Christmas," Rachel and Paul said coming into the house on Christmas Eve. Everyone hugged everyone else and they went into the living room.

"Christmas was when I would miss New York the most," Monica said. "New York was the best place to be around Christmas." Chandler nodded slipping his arm around her and smiling at his friends.

"But now we're getting the hang of Seattle Christmases," he said. 

"The first Christmas that you were gone was hard," Rachel said. "Ross spent all his time with your parents, Mon. They were devastated." 

"Really?" Monica looked surprise and so did Paul at Monica's reaction. They had never discussed her or Chandler's parents. He had even thought about them.

"You see honey," Rachel said. "Monica's parents long time ago chose Ross as their favorite child."

"Rachel, Monica is right there," he said.

"I know, she's accepted it," Rachel said and the three of the former New Yorkers laughed. 

"I have Paul, its been like this since I was little. Not much that you can do about it so you just learn to live and let live. So they were devastated?" Monica asked continuing the conversation. It was about her and she adored conversations that were about her.

"Oh yeah, so Joey and Phoebe and I just stayed back in the apartment, but that was hard because we would remember how it used to be when you were there and how you used to decorate the tree and how the apartment would smell like cookies. Not unlike this house mind you, and we got sad so we went out and got drunk. You can't remember your own name when your drunk let alone how your friend used to decorate the tree." They all looked at each other and just sighed and thought about what would have happened had Monica and Chandler stuck around. They did this all the time, though, and Monica had imagined the scenario over and over in her head a thousand times. But the fact of the matter was that she couldn't change it. What had happened, happened. She looked around at her friends and knew that they were thinking the same thing. Chandler tightened his arm that was draped on her shoulder. She smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze. Jamie and Juliana came running in arguing and Tess came stumbling in after them, as per usual, and Monica heard Ty crying. This was life and she couldn't focus on the past at that time. She got up and Chandler handled the twins as she went and got Tyler. 

"Hey baby," she whispered. "What's the matter?" She picked him up and rocked him back and forth. "Merry Christmas." She kissed his forehead and took him back to the living room with her. 

"Phoebe and I are getting married," Ross announced smiling at his sister and friends. 

"That's..." Monica snuck a quick glance over at Rachel who looked down at her hands and then caught Monica's eye and nodded her approval. "Great!" She stood up and hugged Phoebe and Ross.

"You're officially my sister now!" Phoebe said hugging her. "And, oh God, Chandler's my brother." Chandler laughed and pulled her into a hug.

"Love you too Pheebs," he said and she shrugged. Rachel got up and slowly hugged Ross. 

"Congratulations," she whispered. 

"Monica told me that you're pregnant," he said. "I guess there's a lot of congratulations to be heard." She nodded wiping at her eyes to stop the tear that threatened to make it's way down her face. 

"Yep, Paul is so excited," she said pulling away and finding her husband laughing with Joey over something. 

"You okay Rach?" Paul asked. Joey just nodded, knowing the history behind Ross and her. You can try to forget the past, but it always find a way to creep back into your memories. She nodded. 

"Just got a little nauseas," she lied.

"Then, we should leave," Paul said telling everyone goodbye and getting her coat and taking her home. Phoebe followed Monica into the kitchen to get drinks and took her arm. 

"It's because of us that she left right?" Monica sighed and placed the plate on the counter. 

"Yes," Monica said. "But she's married and has a baby on the way, so she has to learn to live with it. Just as Ross has. They still have a special place in the other's heart, but he loves you. And Rachel loves Paul. The truth is that they would never work out if they got together again." 

"Really?"

"Yeah, they grew up. We all did." Phoebe looked over at her friend and nodded.

"Yeah, we did." Juliana came into the room and hopped into Phoebe's arms. 

"Oh, you're getting so big. What does your mother feed you?" Phoebe teased. Tess tugged on her mother's sleeve and Monica picked her up and hugged her tightly. 

"Hey beautiful," Monica said. "How are you today?"

"Fine," Tess said twirling a piece of Monica's hair around her finger. 

"Aunt Pheebs?" Tess turned her attention to Phoebe.

"Hmm?"

"Well, Juliana and I were wondering if we could be your flower girls," she said sweetly. Monica let out a laugh and hugged her daughter. 

"Oh, honey," she said. "That's not something that you ask."

"Yes, you can be," Phoebe said. Juliana and Tess clapped and smiled and then ran off to play. The adults laughed and went back in to talk to everyone else and had a wonderful evening celebrating Ross and Phoebe's engagement. 

"Rachel had a boy named Paul Chandler," Paul said over the phone to Monica and Chandler. 

"That's wonderful!" Monica said and Chandler beamed at the name.

"You named him after me?"

"Yeah, its because of you and Monica that we met," he explained. 

"That is true," Monica said. 

"Thanks," Chandler said. 

"Come down and see them when you can," Paul suggested before hanging up to be with his wife and son. 

"That's that," Monica said. 

"Yep," Chandler said. "We've all settled down. Even Joey." Joey and Claire had married and now were expecting their first baby. 

"Wait until you have four," Chandler kept telling him.

"Don't say that!" Joey would cover his ears. "Claire! This is it! No more!" Monica had hit Chandler.

"Don't tell him things like that. It's Joey, remember who you are talking to," she admonished. Chandler looked down at his feet like he was sorry, but he was just trying to stop laughing. Everything seemed to have fallen back into place for the friends. They were all safe and happy. They had settled down and now were raising families of their own and doing well. The three in Seattle, were much closer to one another as were the three in New York. That couldn't be helped. 

"We'll go down after dinner and see little Paul," Monica said as she headed towards the kitchen table and sat down. 

"Okay," Chandler said. He took hold of his wife's hands. They may have been separated from their friends, but they still had had each other. 

*~ That's the end! I just wanted to give you some idea of what had happened in the future. Anyway, please tell me what you thought!~*


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